Goodbye Pacis

Unlike Henry, Franny was a pacifier kid. She wanted and got them pretty much all the time until we eventually switched to only using them for naps and nights. It had been that way for quite awhile, with her attachment to them never waning. Laura and I had felt for awhile that we needed to stop them entirely soon, and had talked to her occasionally for a couple of months how she'd be done with them at some point. She didn't like the idea, but we told her she could choose a toy when the time came. On October 24th, I got to sleep in while Laura was up with the kids, and when I got up I was informed this was the day. Franny wanted to go pick a toy. She chose Tinkerbell and Periwinkle figures. Since Henry never got an end of paci toy, he got to choose one too and picked Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots.

I wanted Franny to understand this was 100% the end, and also not allow the possibility of us giving in, so I chopped up her pacis in front of her and threw them away. She didn't care at all as I did it. She didn't take a nap that day, which was not super unusual, though she was taking naps more often than not at that point. Bed time was of course a little difficult. She moaned the word, "paci" over and over, but almost in mourning more than as a demand. She cuddled between Laura and me on the couch and moaned pitifully but got to sleep fairly quickly. I carried her to bed after awhile, and we had no idea what to expect for the night. She made it to 3:00 before she woke up extremely upset in that out-of-it way. Laura tried to console her for a long time without much luck. Eventually Franny said only watching a show would calm her down. Sounded like a bad idea to me, but Laura turned on the iPad with her around 3:30. Franny did calm down and went back to sleep after they watched for about half an hour. Was a good idea after all. The next night it was slightly difficult to get her to sleep, but she slept all night long with no problem. The next night was a little easier, and then it was pretty much a non-issue at night.

Unfortunately though, naps have pretty much gone out the window without pacis. I'd be OK with this if it weren't for the fact that she seems to still need naps. She had very few meltdowns before, but since the naps have stopped, they've become common. It's been two weeks without a paci now, and she's taken one real nap, with a couple of short snoozes in the car, in that time. Still adjusting to a new sleep schedule. Mostly she's still sweet Franny, just with some bonus fits of exhaustion fueled unreasonableness and tears. Time keeps marching on.